Increasingly, individuals, governments, and enterprises are relying on technology to complete daily activities and transactions in an automated manner and without the human assistance.
Kiosks are now commonplace at stores and other locations where people frequent (sporting venues, government facilities, etc.). These kiosks perform a variety of operations without human assistance, such as dispensing products (soda, candy, food, iPods, socks (at a bowling alley), etc.), dispensing lottery tickets, dispensing cash (Automated Teller Machines (ATM's)), dispensing videos, collecting payment for services (car washes, movie/theatre tickets, sporting event tickets, parking fees, grocery checkout, etc.) and the like.
Some kiosks are obviously more intelligent and can perform more complex operations than other kiosks. For example, an ATM requires secure access to a banking network and access to bank accounts whereas as a soda machine requires no network access and simply needs a mechanism to count currency and dispense sodas and in some instances dispense change.
More intelligent and complex kiosks, such as ATM's are also typically more vital to individuals or customers, such that individuals expect these machines to be available and to function properly without error and with a high degree of security. These consumer expectations require significant physical security (cameras, lighting, physical layout and position, etc.); quality assurance software (authentication mechanisms to validate personal magnetic cards, passwords, etc. received from the customer); and hardware (power, display, magnetic card reader, currency dispenser, network connectivity, etc.) in order for proper performance to be assured to customers.
These more complex kiosks still have a number of drawbacks. For example, sometimes the sun hits the display of an ATM and the customer cannot see what is being asked on the display screen. In another case, a display may malfunction and not display information at all in which case a customer will not be able to complete a needed transaction.
Security can also be an issue, when an individual is at a line for an ATM, such as at a sporting event, people behind a customer at the kiosk can see the keys being entered by the customer, potentially exposing the pass code of the customer. Additionally, the longer a customer is physically standing in front of an ATM waiting to conclude his/her transaction (acquire his/her currency), the more vulnerable that customer becomes to a criminal desiring to liberate the customer of his/her cash.
Another drawback of an ATM is that the individual possessing an ATM card has to be physically present at the ATM, which is dispensing the currency. So, someone's spouse or child cannot use an ATM without having the card owner's card in his/her physical possession and without knowing the proper passcode for using the card. Thus, conventional ATM's are also not as convenient as they should be.
Accordingly, what is needed is improved flexibility and security with physical transactions conducted at intelligent kiosks, such as ATM's.